Eubank Jr eyes Saunders rematch down the line

Jack Figg

Chris Eubank Jr feels he will dictate what weight a possible rematch with former foe Billy Joe Saunders will take place at.

Eubank Jr first has his full attention on beating George Groves in the semi-final of the World Boxing Super Series on Saturday, with the winner advancing to the final. The bout will be shown live on ITV Box Office with Eubank Jr’s IBO and Groves’ WBA super-middleweight titles being on the line.

Looking longer term, Eubank Jr is looking at a rematch with Saunders. The two have formed a bitter rivalry since their fight in 2014, with the verbal attacks taking place both before and after the contest.

Saunders prevailed as the winner picking up the Commonwealth, European and British middleweight championships on the way and he is also the only boxer to beat Eubank Jr.

Despite the fight taking place at middleweight, Eubank Jr has since moved up eight pounds competing in the super-middleweight division where he now holds the IBO world title.

Equally Saunders has since won a world title capturing the WBO middleweight crown in 2015, but Eubank Jr feels he will dictate what weight the two would possible meet again at.

He said: “There is no specific weight, it’s whatever weight I decide because I am the draw. Billy Joe Saunders is an extremely boring fighter to watch.

“He has a very small fan base compared to me and without me he has no excitement around him, with him it’s just when are you going to fight Chris Eubank Jr, whereas for me there’s so many other names out there that people want to see me fight.

“He would have to come to the weight that I am at or that I want to fight at, whether that’s at middleweight or super-middleweight that remains to be seen. Either way I will blow him out of the water I know that."

The 28-year-old recorded his best year of his career in 2017, winning a world title when he stopped Renald Quinlan in February of 2017, the year marked the first Eubank Jr has spent as a super-middleweight

He further defended it on two occasions, with wins against veteran Arthur Abraham and a knockout of the year contender to Avni Yildirim.

However the Brighton and Hove star admitted the move up in weight was not a planned one but was rather an opportunity he could not turn down.

He said: “It was an opportunity, Quinlan had a world title and there weren't any real fights for me at that particular moment and Quinlan was looking to fight somebody and I stepped up.

“Yes, it was a move up from middleweight but I always wanted to fight for a world title, so I stepped up and took it.

“I wasn't getting any offers to fight for a world title at middleweight, nobody wanted to fight me so I moved up.

"I wasn't sitting at home thinking I’m finding it really hard to hit middleweight, so I think I might have to move up to super middleweight. I was happy at middleweight but I got a phone call and was asked do I want to fight for a world title at super-middleweight.”